Posted on January 26, 2015 under Monday Morning Musings with no comments yet

Sundown somewhere in Texas

 

 

As we brace for tomorrow’s big storm, I thought a picture of a Texas sunset was in order. So far, the winter has been a bit on the tame side. Snow enthusiasts must be licking their chops along with people who make a living plowing snow.

Several of you got a kick out of the story “ Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread.” ( published last Saturday ) I told a friend that I would love to write an entire book about being brought up Catholic. She thought that I might risk eternal damnation if I did this but I don’t have to write a book to achieve this lofty status.

There’s only one thing worse than being stood up for a date. And that is being the one who stood up their friend. So last Friday, I’m chilling at the Tall and Small waiting to meet one of my best old friends. ( You’re not old, M.! ). The minutes are ticking by and it’s obvious by 9:15 that my friend is not going to show up. No big deal. There were other people around and I slide easily into a conversation with an undertaker. (  Go ahead. Finish that sentence ).

Well a few hours later I receive an apology. She thought we were supposed to meet at 8:00. I checked the calendar on my phone. Nope. It was supposed to be nine. I decided to go back to the private message she had sent me when the date was set up . 8:00. Yup. Right there in black and white. Jeez, is this what I have to look forward to?

I listened to Maritime Connections on CBC radio yesterday afternoon. They were discussing hockey parents and how they were about to be banned from the rink in some jurisdictions for boorish behavior. I happened to be driving down Church Street at the time, looking over wistfully at the Salt Ponds where we spent so much times as kids playing hockey in the winter and pick up football in the summer. No parents. No supervision. They were far too busy trying to put food on the table to worry about our whereabouts.  Bring back unorganized play!

And did you see where a parent was charged with some misdemeanour in the U.S. for allowing their child to walk home from school unattended? Folks, the world is in bad shape.

Do you remember your honeymoon? What a stupid question. If you don’t remember your honeymoon, then you either had way too much fun or it was so bad that you’ve suppressed it. I’m sure that there are books full of honeymoon tales. We were out for a walk the other day and bumped into an old friend. He told us a story about his honeymoon. He and his bride and another couple, drove to Arizona. Now this was back in the early 60’s when travel was quite different. Something funny happened along the way and I thought it deserved my full attention. Coming soon look for “Honeymoon Heat.”

Have a great week and enjoy a blast of winter coming at you tomorrow.

Posted on January 19, 2015 under Monday Morning Musings with no comments yet

Note the huge tree hanging over the street at the top of the hill

 

 

Walking the hilly streets of San Francisco a few weeks ago brought back vivid memories of the 1968 Steve McQueen movie, “Bullitt.” It was filmed in San Fran and was memorable for some of the most amazing chase scenes. If you have a couple of minutes, take a peek at this YouTube clip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31JgMAHVeg0

So, Betty decided to abandon me this weekend.  Imagine, choosing a grandchild over a spouse. Unthinkable, really ! After getting over the shock of being alone and forced to watch hockey games and a couple of football games , I decided to buckle down and get some things done.

The big trip is over and I decided that if I was going to do a major story, this might just be the best time, while it’s fresh in my mind and while I have no one home. As you might imagine, I kept a daily log of the trip that I updated at the end of each day… just odds and ends and things that caught my attention. While I have a reasonably good memory, It’s not possible to remember everything  I saw in the 17 days that we were on the road.

I started writing Saturday morning at 7:00 and decided that I would need a healthy dose of discipline if I was going to get it done in one weekend. I went to the stove and set the timer for 45 minutes and got started. When the timer went off, I stopped and gave myself a 15 minute break. I repeated this until noon and then took an hour lunch break. Two more hours and I was making too many mistakes , so I shut it down for the day. I got up Sunday and three hours later, it was completed. The final word count will be around 5200 words. Considering that most of my stories are in the 500 word range, this was by far my biggest project to date. It will take quite a while to edit and then I plan to release it in its entirety. I am hoping to include several of Peter’s awesome photos. “ Transcontinental Travel Tips – A Journey With My Son.” Stay tuned. You might need two cups of coffee to get through this one.

I am starting to formulate a story about aging. In many ways, those of us in our sixties ( and beyond ) ,  are probably as confident as we’re ever going to get. We’ve seen a lot, done a lot and made a lot of mistakes…. at least I have. We are, by and large, comfortable in our own skin.

But there are other parts that sometimes leave us wondering. We’re not as sure on our feet, especially in the winter time. Our vision is not as sharp and many of us dread night time driving. And our hearing is not as acute as it once was.  Some of our spouses would argue that our hearing hasn’t been sharp for a long time! Anyway, think I’ll take a stab at this topic in the next week or so.

Oh yes, some of you were wondering why Peter has decided to spend the winter months in Victoria. The last three days around here pretty well sums it up. – 30 on Saturday and + 9 and rain forecast for today. Say no more.

Have a great week.

Posted on January 12, 2015 under Monday Morning Musings with no comments yet

Farewell to the Pacific Ocean

 

The last leg of the transcontinental odyssey begins later today with a red eye flight across Canada. I plan on getting a start on a full length story about the trip. I have posted quite a bit already but I would like to put the entire trip into one piece. My guess is that I aggravated the hell out of some people with all the posts and pictures on Facebook. My goal was to share my journey…. and not create envy. I wanted to keep telling stories during my time away from home and this travelogue was simply a substitute for my usual stories.

I got a lot of great story ideas from the trip. One of my favorites happened with the breakdown of our car right at the Texas border. You have to roll with the punches when adversity strikes. It’s not like you have a lot of choice in the matter. As long as a person doesn’t suffer any personal harm, car problems have to be dealt with. Luckily ours was minor. I might be singing a far different tune if the engine had blown while crossing hundreds of miles of the bayou in Louisiana.

The heart of the story, “Zen and Now,” centers around the hour I spent at the auto repair shop. “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” meets the Maury Povich show. I have never been in a situation where there was such a disconnect between my reality and that of the other customers waiting to get their cars fixed.

The other story I’m working on is about the episode about running low on gas in Bakersfield, Texas. Picture yourself in Podunk, Nowhere in the middle of the desert along with a dozen other travellers, lined up at a gas station, that doesn’t have any gas. Once again, perspective and circumstance is everything. If I was a parent traveling with a few small children, this situation would feel much different. We were just two lowly Maritimers on a trip with no fixed plans, lots of food and water, and four cold beer. If we had had to wait until noon the following day until the station received a fresh supply of gas, it wouldn’t have been a great hardship. I’ll tell you one thing, that would have made one hell of a story. I have this image of Peter and I wailing away on our guitars under the desert stars. I may do a story about what might have happened. Coming up, “No Fuelling Around. “

Just one little sidebar.  Through the power of Facebook ( again! ) I found out that two people from my past were both going to be in the Victoria area. One was a friend from St.F.X who I hadn’t seen in 32 years. The other was a lady who was a student of mine 35 years ago in Northern Alberta. I was principal of her school when she was in grade 2. It is wonderful to meet up with people from your past and find out how life has unfolded for them.

As I will be in transit for the next day,  I won’t be publishing my regular Tuesday story. Yeah, I know, I’m a slacker but I don’t think they have wireless internet on my overnight flight.

Have a great week.